A Life is Merely a Story Waiting to be Told
by Lemons are Fun
Summary: Harry Potter's life is well known, at least the public thinks so. Harry and Hermione survived the war and moved on with their lives after winning. Life hits a bump when Hermione finds an unexpected book while visiting the muggle world. While his parents are concerned, Scorpius is quite excited about it. Dramione EWE.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N - This was intended as a story for 'Stories Without Chapters', but when it hit 10,000 words (and I wasn't finished), I knew it needed chapters. These chapters are shorter than some of my other stories, sorry.**_

_**Disclaimer, I'm not JKR, I just play in the sandbox and make the characters bend to my will. It's fun, you should try it.**_

_**Story is complete and six chapters in total (no epilogue).**_

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Harry Potter relaxed on a cool October evening knowing all was well. His boys were in their play room with enough protective wards to keep them there and safe for the evening. His wife had her annual trip to the States to visit her school friends and wouldn't be home until the following weekend. Harry and the boys had finished their errands in the muggle world before returning to the house for a relaxing afternoon. He planned to get the children to bed a little early and hoped it made the morning a little easier.

Harry poured himself a bit of firewhiskey when he heard the floo in the front room ring and the sound of someone stepping from the fireplace. There were only a handful of people with the ability to enter his house unannounced; all of whom were family, well people Harry thought of as family. So he didn't worry and brought the tumbler to his lips.

His ease quickly shifted when he heard a sound that would put fear into the heart of every witch or wizard who stood on the grounds of Hogwarts that early May morning all those years prior. An angry feminine voice called out to him. "Harry James Potter where are you?" Harry took a fortifying drink and began to erect a number of protection spells and a few wards Hermione had yet to see. It might give him enough time to get the emergency apparition point set up. "HARRY!" The wizard in question looked to the tumbler and noticed the telltale sign of how loud the yell had been. The memory of watching Jurassic Park immediately popped into his mind. The rings were moving from the center of the glass out with each time his name was yelled.

That tone only could mean one thing, he was in trouble. He didn't know what he did. He really had no idea, but he sure as hell did something. "I'm in the study Hermione." The wizard, who had survived the killing curse as a toddler, experienced various professors trying to kill him throughout his entire school career, completed a wizarding tournament intended to test fully trained witches and wizards at fourteen, led a resistance militia at fifteen, and faced, eventually defeating, one of the darkest wizards in history at seventeen, was more afraid of the petite brunette witch stalking down the hall than he was in those other situations combined.

Steeling himself, he checked his wand was in his holster. He needed less than half a second to grab it. Although Hermione was quick and might get the jump on him. He needed to be prepared. Listening for her footfalls to tell how close she was, he used her voice to give him an idea of the level of anger. The voice wasn't scared, he knew that one, it was called _'there's a mountain troll in the bathroom with me'_. It wasn't worried, that sounded like _'getting caught in Hogsmeade with the map open while our questionable professors are in the next booth'_. It was more than normal worry though, he had only heard anything similar once and that was on a certain spring day in the forest during seventh year as they ran.

That said, the voice today was scared, but had traces of her formidable anger. Though it wasn't her normal anger, no that was any conversation with Ron after first year. There was no frustration, that was typically heard after her husband or son did something questionable and she found out after the fact. As she continued to yell the worried tone began to fade and it was replaced with anger. It took a lot to get this witch truly angry, but when it happened everyone ducked for cover and the ones that caused the anger weren't likely to get up again. But this tone was new, an all new level. A new and freighting level.

"Why are your shields up Harry?" The witch had gotten into the room without the wizard realizing all his wards had been dropped and she was ready to wipe away the shields. He was in deep and there was no escape.

"I don't know Hermione, why are you yelling at me? I don't know what I did. Until you tell me what you think I did, I can't come up with an explanation to tell you if I did or didn't do whatever it is you think I did do." The wizard didn't realize he was rambling due to the adrenaline coursing through his veins and his weak attempt to silently set up more shields only to have to them waved away.

"Oh Harry, really? We practiced these fifth year and I bested them after the second time. You know better shields. And those wards? Sloppy." Hermione stalked into the room. Her hair was radiating magic and that never bode well for the person in her sights. The LeStrange brothers found that out first hand. Her eyes were focused and bright with anger, he'd never seen that look personally, but Bellatrix had for a few moments anyway.

"Hermione really, what have I supposedly done. At least give me a chance to make up something, but I have to know what I did." The wizard was frantic and watched the witch as she slowly spun her wand. He gulped and feared that whatever he hadn't done would be what ended up killing him.

"And if you did do it? What then? Will you lie to me?" The witch's eyes were trained on the green eyes hidden behind glasses.

"If it's bad enough I'll lie. We both know this. You'll know I'm lying and eventually I'll give in and admit it. You can tell when I'm lying. You always have been. If I didn't do it, you'll know immediately and then feel terribly sorry for scaring me this much." The wizard panted out his response, he might have been having a minor panic attack. Something had to have happened to cause this particular witch to act like this with no warning.

"Fine. What do you know about muggle bookstores and the top sellers listing?" The wizard had not expected that sort of question. He looked dumbfounded and confused. When he cocked his head to the side with his eyes wide, it reminded Hermione of their early days at school. It also told her he wasn't aware of what she had discovered. "Ok, you are getting a reprieve. Call everyone Harry." She turned to leave before spinning on her heel and facing him again. "And I mean everyone."

Hermione made her way down the hall and to the Potter library. She didn't have high hopes for finding anything useful, most of the books she might need were either at her home or her in-law's. But libraries typically helped her find calm or at least a temporary distraction.

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Harry finished his drink and immediately began calling their inner circle. His first call was to a wizard who had been a pain in his backside for his entire childhood but without whom the war would have dragged for much longer than it already had. The floo rang twice before Draco Malfoy's smooth drawl cut through the air. "Potter, what can I do for you?" Harry rolled his eyes at the other wizard before requesting his presence. "Potter, you do realize I have children and my beautiful wife is out today."

Harry nodded in understanding. "Yes, I'm fully aware she is out, she's here and not happy. Scorp can hang out the boys and I will set up an area for the rest while we talk Hermione down. It's bad man, I mean worse than I've ever seen and I have seen her angry a lot over the years. Mostly to do with Ron, but you know what I've seen."

The blond wizard just gulped. "That bad?" The other wizard nodded emphatically before the voice of the witch in question ripped through the air.

"Draco, I don't have time for you two to chat over tea, get the kids and get your arse here." No more words were needed as Draco nodded and ended the call. The rest of the calls went more quickly as _'Hermione told me to call'_ pretty much put an end to any questions. Harry had just entered the receiving room when the entirely too graceful form of Draco Malfoy exited the floo. On the wizard's back was five year old Scorpius. On the wizard's chest secure in her Bjorn was three year old, Caeli, whose attempts to go back toward the floo made Harry smile. And in each hand the wizard carried a baby carrier filled with the recently born twins, Lyra and Regulus.

"Malfoy, just how…" Before he could finish, the wizard in question spun and the five year old leapt into Harry's arms.

"Uncle Harry! I wasn't supposed to see you today and daddy said we are coming and we had to hurry so I couldn't bring any of my toys." Scorpius, Harry's second godson, pouted with a skill that rivaled his father and grandparents combined.

"Wills and Phil are in the play room. Go say hi to your mum, she's in the library, and then you can go play." The boy jumped to the ground and ran yelling to tell his mum he was here. Hopefully her son would give them a sufficient buffer. Harry reached for one of the twins only to be refuted by their father.

"Nope, no way Potter, I'm hoping the fact I'm carrying three of her children and without my wand will give her pause." Harry nodded in envy and stepped behind Draco before pushing the blond ponce toward the library. As they got closer to the door they heard Scorpius telling his mother about the morning and how he and daddy flew around the garden while all the babies were sleeping. Draco hissed, Hermione would kill him for that. Maybe whatever had happened would overshadow Draco putting his son on a broom. In his defense it was a training broom.

Scorpius must have seen his mother's face. "But it's ok mum. It's my training broom and Daddy was walking 'sides me. I wanted to go faster but Daddy said you'd kill him and I needed to have a daddy to teach me how to play qiditch and help bring Sly'thin glory." Draco could just imagine the bright smile on his son's face. Maybe Hermione wouldn't kill him and cause Scorpius sadness.

"Really Draco, get in here. I had specifically asked…" Hermione was cut off by her husband's kiss and feeling her baby girl reach for her. "Fine bring in the big guns. Right now Scorp riding a broom isn't my biggest concern." The younger blond knew this was something to remember, his eyes squinted a bit and began to log what he knew. He needed to make sure whatever happened, happened again since he wanted to fly again before his eighth birthday. "For now, Scorp go play with the boys and Draco give me Caeli." The Malfoy wizards acted immediately. The younger Malfoy ran as fast as possible out of the room, while the elder handed the twins to Harry before opening the carrier on his chest and handing his giggling daughter off. As the twins were still sleeping, Harry set them in a blocked corner ensuring no one would bump them and a new variation of the muffalto was erected so any raised voices wouldn't wake them either. The day prior Hermione had told Harry the twins had finally fallen into a sleep schedule and the last thing anyone needed was for that to get disrupted.

"Hermione?" Draco knew nothing he had done had ever rivaled what he had heard over the floo and that worried him since he had been there when Hermione gave birth to their children. He was certain the hospital was going to collapse when the medi-witch made a quip about society mothers and how they don't know real pain. The witch may have been escorted out the room and replaced quickly by Tracey Davies. That didn't include all the years at school and the various stupid pranks or plans Harry had that could have potentially gotten her killed. Or worse, at least in her eyes, expelled.

Hermione focused on her daughter and her happy laughter bubbling out of her, it calmed Hermione's racing heart. Her focus on the laughter shifted slightly and reminding her what she had found. If it was true, then something the Ministry swore couldn't, promised would never happen, had happened. "Not yet Draco, I need everyone here." The wizard sat next to two of the most important witches in his life and hoped whatever this was wouldn't tear his family apart. Harry went to greet and usher everyone else toward the library as they arrived.

It wasn't much longer before the library was filled with their anxious friends. After one final snuggle with Caeli, Hermione handed her daughter to Draco and stood. "Thanks everyone. While I don't really expect any of you to have known anything about this, I need to check. More than likely, the Department of Muggle Oversight will have an announcement about a new head and potentially employees tomorrow afternoon." She spun and slammed a book on the coffee table. Most were shocked Hermione of all people would do that to a book. Caeli loved chaos and found loud noises caused it, so she clapped loudly and requested Hermione to do it again.

Draco turned Caeli to face him before shaking his head to quiet the girl and placing her next to him on the couch. He reached for the offending book immediately picked it up to try and figure out what it was. "I don't understand Hermione." He had flipped it over and was reading the back before flicking it open and reading the first page. "Is it accurate?" Caeli let out a huff of frustration when Harry plucked the book from Draco and read the title.

_Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone_

The room was silent as Harry opened the book and started to read the first chapter. "Yeah it's pretty accurate so far. I don't know how, but this is almost exactly what I remember happening." Looking to Hermione the wizard was truly scared, this laid out his life and his muggle relatives. While some names appeared to be altered, it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for someone to figure out who his muggle family actually was. "The statue is at risk with this."

"We need to figure out who this author is and how this information became fodder for the muggle general public."

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_**A/N2 - So this is a few different tropes, as we move along I'll mention them. Obviously the first one is the book being real and the characters finding it. This story is a little different since the events of the book already occurred in some fashion (more on that in chapter two) but the book is known to the muggle world. **_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: I didn't mention update timing last chapter. I figured I'd post one chapter on Saturdays and Sundays (so three weeks to post the entire story).**_

_**Enjoy chapter two, I love a young Scorpius. He is a combination of my nephews at this age. **_

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The rest of the group remained quiet as Harry continued to read what amounted to an unauthorized biography of his life. As the story made its way to Hogwarts some significant events were wrong. The first and probably most important was the role of Draco Malfoy. In the books, the blond boy was portrayed as an unadulterated spoiled prat who took perverse pleasure in cutting down others. He was the apparent villain in the piece.

"Draco, you are not going to like how they have you written. I mean, yeah you are spoiled and can be a right git, but wow, this book does a doozy on you." Harry mumbled as he got through the ill-fated introduction in the book. "I think this author also has some weird affection for the Weasley family and specifically Ron. I mean he was there for this all, but not this involved in my life. The book makes it appear like we were immediately best friends and I followed him as if he was an expert on all things magical. Although looking back at it now, I can see he really wanted to be my best friend. He just never wanted to work for it."

The rest of the group rolled their eyes. Instead of friends and integral part of the story, Ron was now a mere acquaintance, at best. At school, he took exception to everything that happened with Harry, claiming Harry was searching for attention. By their fateful sixth year, he had decided since he was a pureblood he'd be safe regardless of the outcome. That was why he wasn't included in this meeting, not even his family truly trusted him after what he pulled in the final days before the war ended.

Hermione was more stunned, her mind was racing with everything needing to be done, but she could only focus on her friend and his shocked face. As the wizard read each page she saw his expression changing from shock and confusion to fear and finally to anger before starting all over again. "Harry are the conversations with Ron, with others accurate?"

"Not really, there are quite a few that just didn't happen. The entire train ride was fabricated. Why would I have bought the entire trolley cart? I was starved and had experienced what happened if I forced myself to eat a large amount of food. Whoever wrote this…I can't explain it just yet. Things don't make sense." Harry focused back on the book reading about the first dinner at Hogwarts. The conversations about the professors were slightly more accurate, as were Harry's reactions to the bogus DADA professor. When the story moved to the first day of classes, Harry found the first the first scenes with Hermione and discovered how the author would portray his best friend and sister.

"Wow, Hermione, she doesn't like you either. Instead of being a prat like Draco, she makes you out to be an annoying know-it-all with no friends. Ron of course is not making it any better, which is surprisingly accurate. Hold on, I'm just getting to Halloween." Hermione shivered at the mention of that particular event during first year. Draco, of course, was trying not to smile too widely at the memory. His wife was still on the verge of apocalyptic anger and he didn't want to be the one to push her back over the line.

"Yeah, this person _loves _Ron. The rest of the family has only been mentioned a couple of scenes, but I suspect the writer is going to portray everyone in the same way she has Ron. Well, maybe not Percy, he seems to be pretty much the same Percy we all knew then." The three Weasley brothers in attendance leaned forward.

The twins, who were listening hoping to hear more about themselves, scowled. "What's not to love about us? We are great!" The stereo effect of speaking at the same time had become routine with the group, none of them responded as they waited for Harry's next comment about the book. The elder brother was intensely focused on whatever comments Harry made. There were only a few ways something like this could have happened, and he didn't like any of them. Looking to his two younger brothers, Bill sighed knowing the trio would need to talk about this before the night was over.

It was into this tense atmosphere three sets of little feet came pounding down the hall and into the room.

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"Scorpius how did you get here? Harry, didn't have the room warded?" Hermione looked to her son whose expression was the mirror image of her husband when he did something that was probably against some rule or another. After a quick glance to Draco, it confirmed he was excited about something, which just increased Hermione's worry. Harry looked more confused, as he glanced between the book in his hands and the boys standing rather proudly in front of them.

"I did it Mummy. Phil wanted to tell Uncle Harry something and I knew we couldn't leave. So I did what you do when you are mad at Daddy or Uncle Harry." The little boy's bright smile was met with an excited whoop from his father as Draco jumped to his feet.  
"Scorp, did you take down the wards that Uncle Harry, the auror corps' highest scoring trainee ever, the Head of the DMLE and the Boy-Who-I-Can't-Get-Rid-of, put up?" The boy nodded even more proudly now he had some positive reinforcement from his father. Draco picked up his son and spun him around laughing the entire time. Caeli began to clap in support of her father and the loud noise he was making. It had much too quiet for the girl and both of her parents ignored her huffs of displeasure. "That is awesome little man! Wait until we tell your grandparents about your first bout of magic and how powerful it is." Scorpius happily laughed as he dad hugged him again.

While Draco celebrated his son's first act of intentional magic, Hermione was in shock. "Baby boy, did you say you copied what I do?" The little boy, who was still in his dad's arms, nodded emphatically. "Will you show me? Draco set him down." Hermione cast a silent and wandless spell on her son to show what sort of magic was performed.

"Sure Mummy, but there aren't any wards here. Will Uncle Harry put up some more?" Harry sighed, he should have seen the request coming. Wordlessly he pulled his wand and warded Draco from the rest of the family. "Thanks!" The little boy scrunched his nose and focused intently on his daddy. Lifting his hand, he ran it along the edge of the ward nodding before mumbling something about them always being the same. Hermione smirked knowing she had said that more than a few times about the wards most of the wizards in the room used. She continued to watch the movements of her son's hand and her jaw dropped.

Surprise didn't quite cover Hermione's expression when Scorpius finished. Her five year old perfectly copied a spell she created and used as an auror to bring down wards. It was also the same spell she used to get into Harry's study earlier that day. She read the results of the detection spell which showed relatively strong magic for a five year old and more importantly controlled magic, which was the unusual part. Draco was rather shocked when Scorpius was through the ward in under a minute and rushed to his daddy again.

After being picked up a second time, Scorpius looked around and seeing all his aunts and uncles he started to wave and say his hellos to the group. After finishing, he looked back and noticed the book Uncle Harry had in his lap. The book that caused all the stress earlier; not that he knew about the stress. "You got the Harry Pottah book? I was gonna ask for it for my birthday but now I don't have'ta." Scrambling from his father's arms, Scorpius plucked the book from his uncle and began to read it out loud.

_"__Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were …"_

"Mummy is P-E-R-F-E-C-T-L-Y said prefectly?" Scorpius was a pretty advanced reader but liked to make sure he knew the proper way to pronounce words. He didn't want his sisters and brother to think he didn't know what he was saying when he read them their bedtime stories.

"No darling it's said '_per__fectly'_ not '_pre_'. But where did you hear about this book?" The little boy who was preparing to reread the first sentence stopped and looked at his mum like she was crazy.

"School. Where else would I hear about a new muggle book?" The answer was everything a child of Hermione Granger would say when faced with a stupid question. The room chuckled as Scorpius settled himself again to read aloud.

"Scorp, we can talk about you reading the book later. Have you told anyone you know Harry Potter?" Draco was now more concerned with what exactly his talkative five year old may have said to his friends at the muggle primary school he attended.

"No, course not Daddy. I know we can't tell muggles about magic. One of the boys, Clarance, his mum said the book is the way of the devil because of magic. It made me mad when he said it and I almost hexed her that day. But I was good and didn't." What Scorp didn't mention was the real reason he hadn't hexed the woman who said those nasty things about his family. He wanted to do something truly awesome, but couldn't figure out how to change her hair into a rainbow of colors. He would work on it and probably have to ask his Uncle George and Uncle Fred. They always knew the best spells for that sort of thing.

"No Scorpius, we don't hex anyone. Ok? I don't want to hear about Clarance's mum having any odd things happen to her." When his mummy said _'ok'_ like that it told him she knew about his plans. With an overly dramatic sigh he agreed. With conditions.

"Ok Mummy, can I get the book if I don't make her hair rainbow?" At least her son's hexes weren't as bad as what she and her husband wanted to do. "I also didn't tell anyone the picture of Uncle Harry is way off. I mean, he has all those grey hairs and the picture doesn't have any. Didn't he have to sit for a portrait?"

Harry truly looked at the cover for the first time noticing where the small boy's finger was pointing. The picture looked like him as an eleven year old. "Um, no Scorp, I didn't know the book was being written. That picture is supposed to be me when I was eleven." The little grey eyes looking at him widened and looked between the book and his Uncle. Nodding he turned to his father.

"Daddy, is this like Mummy's grey hair and I shouldn't mention it when I see them?" With the type of total sincerity only a child has, the little boy was seriously going to get his father killed. Draco was very aware of how Hermione was glaring at him and the rest of the room was doing everything they could to not fall out of their chairs laughing.

"Yeah, sort of like that Scorp, but remember we don't talk about it all. It happens to everyone and your mummy looks magnificent whether the grey shows or not." Draco was pretty confident this was his last night on Earth and was going to try and make sure his son had good memories of him.

"Why does Mummy and Uncle Harry have grey hairs and you don't? Aren't you the same age?" Draco dropped his head to hands and shook his head. There was absolutely no way out of this now. The snickers from the others were getting louder with a few people having actually fallen to the floor in an effort to try and catch their breath again.

"Your daddy sweets, that's how Uncle Harry and I got our grey hair. It's all your daddy's fault." Again little grey eyes seemed to understand. "So tell us what you've heard about the book, not what you know is real."

The little boy's nose scrunched again and his tongue darted out of his mouth. This was the classic 'thinking' Scorpius pose. "Um, nothing really, I know almost everyone is talking about it and that Daddy is the baddie. I know Daddy likes Uncle Harry even if he didn't in the book." When Scorpius fell silent everyone thought he was done and started to talk about what to do and what may lay down the road. It was during a slight lull in the adult conversation that Scorpius spoke up. "Oh, Evan, you know the boy who eats boogers and paste, well he said there's 'nother book. Something 'bout chambers and secrets, but it's not ready yet."

The group looked around and gulped, if someone knew about what happened in that Chamber their world was in real danger.

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	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Hope everyone is safe and warm. The last two weeks have been a bit crazy, in addition to everything with the coronavirus, my company offered a voluntary separation offer. It was too good to pass up and yesterday I opted to take to the offer. My last day is there is in two weeks. Needless to say, I'm a bit worried but I know this was the best thing for me.**_

_**Anyway, thanks to those who favorited and followed.**_

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After the unexpected revelations by Scorpius, the adults in the room decided the first thing needing to be done was research the author. While the entire group was more than comfortable in the muggle world, Hermione was still the most familiar and for something this important she would be the one doing a lot of the research. Not that she minded, she missed being the field. The office work she now did got mundane and boring. Her friends saw the gleam of excitement in her eyes and happily watched her in her element.

As Harry finished the story and discussion moved to more than just the fact the book existed, they thought on how not only they were described, but also others who were part of the war. Those present huffed in disgust as the professors introductions passed. Each of the adults described could have done more to protect the children in their care.

Everyone remained at Harry's for a couple more hours discussing the book and making plans before return to their homes. The Malfoy family returned home and had a light dinner before getting the children settled into their beds. With the start of a plan in place and knowing she would need the afternoon off, Hermione spent a hour organizing what she would need first thing in the morning before sending a few memos to the office. Once done, she and Draco settled into their bed.

"Do you have any ideas who it could be? Someone from our world would have to be involved, right? There was too much detail on everyone, all of their worst traits were exaggerated to the point of ridiculous. Whoever it is knows us all." Draco wrapped Hermione in his arms as his rambled questions fell from his lips. Before leaving Potter's home, Draco found all the references to himself in the book. He admitted to all and sundry he was spoiled but this characterization of him was beyond even how his father acted.

Worst of all for Draco, he knew what the other books would document, he had a real fear of just how he was going to be portrayed once their book selves were older and the plot revolved around battle between good and evil, the prophesied war, and not some vague illusion made by the adults.

"I do, but not really. I agree it has to be someone who was around at the time, but to know that much about Harry means someone who was close and is still around. There really aren't that many left. We lost a lot during the war and no one who we trust would have revealed our world. So we are left with someone we don't trust." Both began to ponder who fell into that category.

"Tomorrow we can make lists and see how they compare to what we can find out about the author." After agreeing, Hermione's brain allowed the worry to briefly dissipate as she fell asleep secure in her husband's arms.

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Having four children, two of which are a set of six month old twins, means a full night's sleep was a rare thing in the Malfoy household. Hermione only returned to work full time after her maternity leave ended the week prior and her visit to the muggle world that Sunday had been one of the first since she had been placed on bed rest two months before the twins were born. Draco got up, fed the twins and settled Caeli after she got up to use the potty. When Draco returned to his bed, he was greeted by his son curled up with Hermione. "Come on Scorp, Mummy needs to sleep and you need to be in your own bed." The little blonde, who was awake, pretended to be asleep by making loud snores and held more tightly onto Hermione's arm.

"Draco, just let him be. We will be getting up in a couple of hours and it's just not worth it." Hermione mumbled into her pillow and Draco didn't feel like fighting anyway so he gave up. After settling on his somewhat smaller side of the bed, Draco saw his son smile. The boy knew he had won and the father was a bit proud, but Draco also knew he'd have to teach the boy to not give away the plot quite so easily.

When the morning really started, Hermione found her family at the table eating breakfast. She smiled when Draco handed her a mug of brewed perfection, made just the way she liked it. He received a quick kiss for his efforts and heard her two eldest making disgusted sounds. As it was Monday, Scorpius was excitedly talking about going to school and what they were going to be doing. Caeli, enthralled with everything her brother said, listened intently and nodded along when Scorpius seemed excited about one thing or another. While she didn't really understand, she certainly loved it when Scorpius told her stories.

"Hermione, do you know how long you'll be there today?" After the discovery, Draco wasn't exactly sure what his wife needed to do in the office. Hermione nodded slightly while taking a deep sip from her mug.

"Probably until lunch, I need to meet with a few people and try to figure out how no one knew it was happening. Would you mind dropping Scorpius at school?" Scorpius, who didn't like to miss out on anything, was blissfully unaware his mum and dad would be having an adventure that day. Hermione didn't mention after her morning meetings she would return home and the couple would begin their research in the muggle world.

"Of course dear. Speaking of, Scorp it's almost time. Go brush your teeth, grab your bag and jacket, please." The little boy eagerly took off to get ready. "I'll drop the twins off with Mother, do you think Caeli should stay at the Manor a well?" Easily agreeing since it wasn't as if Caeli could stay home on her own, Hermione tucked into her own breakfast. "Ok, I'll check with her when I get back. I'll see you shortly." With a quick kiss to his wife, Draco left the kitchen while calling for Scorpius.

"Well kiddos, looks like it's just us until Daddy get home." Hermione wiped away the extra oatmeal that had found its way into Caeli's curls and the honey that somehow covered each of her little fingers before releasing the girl. "Go into the front room Sweetheart, I'll be there with the twins shortly." The little girl toddled off babbling to herself as Hermione removed the twins from their high chairs and carried them into the room.

The Malfoy women and youngest son settled and played and read and talked until Draco returned from dropping Scorpius off at school. "Scorp and I had a conversation on just what he's allowed to say about the book. Unsurprisingly, he said he knew he couldn't talk about anything in the book and admitted to never mentioning he had an Uncle Harry at all. Hopefully that stays true and I asked his teacher about the book. She said some of the older years are reading it but Scorp's class is too young. I don't think he'd be able to not say anything about the book's inaccuracies if he had it read to him."

"Agreed. Ok, I'm going to run into the office and shake some things up. I'll see you in a couple hours. We can start looking, have some lunch and then do what we do best." Leaving what exactly that was up in the air, Hermione spun away in the floo while Caeli cheered.

"Yes little one, I know it's your favorite way to travel." After a quick call to his mother, Draco began to assemble what Narcissa would need to handle her three youngest grandchildren for the day. With an ease anyone reading the Harry Potter books would be shocked to witness, Draco settled Caeli in her carrier, slung a backpack, complete with an undetectable extension charm, filled with the necessities on his back, and moved the twins carriers closer to the floo. He grabbed a handful of powder, both carriers with the other hand and called out Malfoy Manor while throwing the powder down.

Narcissa Malfoy quickly relieved her son of the extra carrier and happily greeted her grandchildren with smiles, kisses and hugs. "Mum, Hermione and I will be back later, before dinner at the latest." Giving his mother a quick kiss and then saying goodbye to his children Draco left his childhood home.

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Hermione walked toward the Minister of Magic's office and saw her assistant. "Morning Minister, is there anything I can do for you this morning? I placed a number of responses to the memos from last night on your desk." Hermione nodded in thanks and continued to the office where she dropped her coat on the sofa before making her way to the desk. The stack of responses left a lot to be desired and as she read them her anger began to tick higher and higher. After realizing the answers were not close to sufficient, she called for her assistant to set up a meeting immediately and emphasizing all department heads were to be present. No excuses, no exceptions, everyone would be there.

The assistant, who had worked with the witch since she was the deputy head of the DMLE, knew not to question anything while she was in this serious of a mood and set about contacting the various departments. Within thirty minutes all of the heads had been contacted and were making their way to the Minister's private conference room.

When Harry Potter received the notice he merely shook his head. Apparently whatever Muggle Oversight had said to Hermione wasn't good. He made a quick detour to the Department of Mysteries to find the head of the department and suggest bringing the top unspeakable. When the head and former Ravenclaw questioned the idea, Harry shrugged and told the man to bring him now and let him hear it straight from Hermione or he would just have to repeat the meeting to the Unspeakable and that would be time wasted. After thinking about it for only a moment, Anthony Goldstein knew Potter was correct. He sent off the request to the unspeakable. And her partner. It would be better for three of them to hear whatever directly.

Harry walked into Hermione's office to find the witch reviewing something with a scowl on her face. "I finished the book last night. It's accurate enough to be questioned. And some major areas are dead on right. I've flagged them if you hadn't seen them before I took the book." Harry set the book and a piece of parchment on the table. "That's a list of people who could have done this." Hermione gazed at the list and pulled out two of her own. A fourth piece was used to combine list of names into one. The names listed the most often were ranked higher than the others.

The pair friends reviewed the list and agreed silently there were only a few names appearing all three lists who would have had a reason. Hermione glared at some of the names before looking at the rest one at a time.

"Hermione, if it's one of them, we will have to work out a plan. Most of them haven't been seen since the end of the war but we know they are alive. And those not missing, we know exactly where they are. I don't know how any of them knew so much about my muggle life or family, I've only told a few people about my experiences and that was vague at best." Hermione's gaze settled on her best friend before giving a single nod. "Let's get this over with. I assume you'll have to replace a bunch of people today." The witch sighed, grabbed the book and a stack of muggle newspapers before heading to the adjoining conference room.

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**_A/N2 - Another trope I've wanted to explore is the headcannon of Harry, who did all he did, and is still scared of Hermione in all her small stature, big magic glory. To visualize Harry's face, Deathly Hallows when Ron returns and Harry cowers when he sees just how upset Hermione is._**

**_DramioneDaily - obviously we don't discover who it is today, only a potential accomplice. Tomorrow we discover just who it is._**


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Stay safe everyone. Just remember kindergarten, wash your hands, cough/sneeze into your arm, don't touch your face, don't touch other people's faces...**_

_**Waves and cyber-hugs to everyone, especially those who started following/favorited this story. **_

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No one expected the Minster of Magic to rail on a specific department as much as Hermione had that morning and by the end of the extremely short but highly uncomfortable meeting, everyone knew the Department of Muggle Oversight would most likely be razed. When the witch summoned copies of interdepartmental memos the head blanched and Harry knew Hermione's response the day before would look like nothing. He watched as she flipped through the correspondence and her expression continued to darken. His friend was about to lose her mind and Harry briefly worried for the man's safety. The thought was fleeting as Hermione's sharp gasp caught Harry out.

"You mean to tell me, someone brought a copy of the book in and you claimed it was nothing?" None of the other department heads quite knew how to react, but seeing the savior of the wizarding world inching away from his best friend was enough for them to know something potentially unpleasant was going to happen. Silently they all erected personal shields and prayed to Merlin they would hold against whatever ricochets may hit them.

The unspeakables placed shields over the rest of the heads as a precaution as the magic crackling through the Minister's hair had almost shocked those nearest the witch. The only head not aware of what everyone else was doing was the head of the Muggle Oversight department. He was frozen in fear as the witch began to explain the purpose of the statute of secrecy and how this book broke it in every possible way.

When she flipped the offending object open, she read the description of the location of the muggle entrance to platform nine and three quarters everyone in the room gasped. It was detailed in perfect accuracy. Hermione then pulled a current muggle newspaper with an article regarding a group of muggles who had booked their vacation for the following September, planning on being at Kings Cross on September the first to experience magic.

The article continued to discuss other groups, both domestic and international, planning the same thing. The story finished with a comment from the muggle police force stating they would assess the situation nearer to the date and determine if and what sort of crowd control measures would be required. Slamming both documents on the table, Hermione spun to Anthony Goldstein. He had been promoted after Hermione won the election to be the Minister and was justifiably wary of the witch.

"Anthony, I'm glad you thought to include the your top pair of unspeakables. They will need to remove the muggle entrance and determine a new way for the platform to be accessed from the muggle world. Luckily we have a couple of months until the yule holidays for that. More worrisome is Diagon. We will need to close the entrance to the Alley from the Leaky immediately. The book describes the exact bricks to tap for the wall to move away. While muggles may not be able to open it, they may be able to get close enough to view it. Apply the strongest repellent charms you have and then work on finding a way to secure that entry."

Hermione stopped her tirade for only a moment to catch her breath and make sure everything they needed to do immediately was covered. "Those are just the first two priorities. Go." With a flick of her hand, they were dismissed and quickly made their leave. Their mission was set and they didn't want to be any closer to the irate witch than need be.

"Harry, get the aurors to round up everyone from the Muggle Oversight department and figure out who knew what, when and why nothing was done. I need to understand why the head of the department was so completely lax with his responsibility. Take him with you." Before the man could react, Hermione summoned his wand and froze him. "Until we determine why, you are a danger to our world and cannot be allowed to leave." The man was disillusioned and sent to a secured room.

After tasking the rest of the departments, Hermione set up an emergency council to actively manage the situation, providing them all the muggle information she'd been able to obtain and dismissed the meeting. Hermione left the Ministry with a headache she knew would only get worse.

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Draco expected Hermione to arrive home well before lunch, but never expected the silvery buck of his wife's best friend. The message was short and simple. "Muggle Oversight allowed it, she is on the war path." As the buck shimmered away, the floo sounded and a grumbling wife stepped through the grate.

"Draco you won't believe…" Hermione saw the silver mist just before it totally evaporated. "Harry warned you didn't he? I knew you two would become friends." Draco shrugged.

"No, he just said that Muggle Oversight allowed it and you were not pleased with what you found. If you want to change into something a bit less magic looking, we can start our investigation. I made reservations at that little Italian place you like near your mum and dad's for a late lunch." Hermione was forever grateful she married Draco on a normal day, but today she was even more confident in her choice. She entered their room and found an outfit that would be perfect for the day laying on their bed. It was new and that told her Draco went shopping after dropping off the kids. Looking at the cashmere sweater dress and riding boots, Hermione smiled. He knew her so very well.

After changing and packing any number of things into her small bag, the pair spun off to a so far safe apparition point hidden to the muggle world. Their first port of call would be to the book store she visited the day before. The manager of the store discussed how popular the book was and how the publishers were promising the second book would be available the upcoming summer. Hermione thanked the man and added her name to the list of reserved books. Silently hopefully the request would never be fulfilled.

The pair quickly discussed their approach to the publishing house and decided the company would not just hand out information on their authors. Hermione sighed and admitted use of the imperious would just raise questions and unnecessary paperwork. After swatting her husband for laughing, Hermione and Draco disillusioned themselves and made their way into the building.

It didn't take them long to locate and access the company's record room. After a bit of searching, Draco hit upon the not a clue, but the answer with undeniable proof. The wizard pulled the folder listed with the author's name and opened it to see a picture of the woman. "Hermione, look at this picture." Growling quietly, Hermione copied the entire file and anything else related to the publishing company's plans for the apparent Harry Potter franchise, including a memo about making the books into movies. The pair returned everything to the correct filing cabinet and left. No longer worried about who was writing the books, now their only questions were how she got the information and where she was hiding.

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Harry Potter spent the remainder of his day interviewing every person who was currently or recently part of the Muggle Oversight department. Since the investigation revolved around the statue and the existence of magic, use of veritaserum had been required. Harry was loathe to use it, but knew it was the only way to assure he had the total truth.

Most of the individuals seemed to be shocked when the book was produced, but there were a few who acknowledged having seen or heard about it. When they were questioned as to why they hadn't said anything they swore they had. The individuals went so far as to provide copies of their memories and the memos they sent regarding the book. Each of the memos had been answered by the head who said it was being handled and there was no need to worry.

After the final interview, Harry knew the former head was involved up to his oversized ears, but he didn't quite know why. So Harry began to research the life of the man still bound and silenced in a secured interrogation room.

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Since the war, the wizarding world slowly started to reopen themselves to the muggle world and explore opportunities in the oh-so-recently forbidden side of the wall. On the whole the British magical world was amazed at how the muggles had changed since the old stories were true. Many of those who truly believed muggles were dirty, ill-bred heathens were amazed to find they were wrong. While the magical world seemed to freeze, the muggle world grew by leaps and bounds.

Everything the muggles had invented over a few hundred years began to stack up and now the muggles could say they could do almost everything a magical could do. It was a bitter pill to swallow when some of the conveniences of the muggle world outshone the magical world. The witches who discovered you could shop in the evening with electric lights began to question why they still lived with torch or candle light. The concept of central heating and cooling made the excessive use of the respective personal charms seem quaint and more importantly outdated.

The statue had been strengthened after the war, as everyone admitted not everyone you ever met should know about magic, but it was never intended to stop wizards and witches from expanding their knowledge. The intent of the statute was simple and had always been intended to keep the greater muggle world from finding absolute proof magic existed. What magicals found at the end was the statute had stifled their creativity.

When Hermione started as the Minister, she created a new Ministry department with the sole purpose to analyze the creation of new spells, charms, enchantments and potions. With the little data available from the archives, other records and general knowledge, the statistics showed an uptick in all areas since the magical world's eyes opened. It seemed the additional exposure was fueling the creativity of the entire British wizarding world.

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Rita Skeeter sat in the small muggle apartment and glared out the dirty windows lamenting about how her life had been destroyed. She was the most popular writer The Prophet had; however, after the war and the accidental admittance of her unregistered animagus ability, she had to flee. Those who fed her information were detained and turned tail on her. They implied she used the imperious curse on them or forced them to drink veritaserum.

The last she'd been able to tell, the Ministry planned to try her case without her being present with the potential outcome being a lengthy sentence in Azkaban. Regardless if the court case occurred or not, she knew she was wanted by the Ministry and her options were limited.

The older witch was aghast to discover the impertinent little chit, who was the ring leader in having her secret broadcast, had been elected as Minister and slowly started to clear out the old guard. At this point her only remaining contact with any power was ironically the man in charge of the Muggle Oversight Department.

While he gave her limited access to the world of her birth, the best day of her new life came when she found another wizard trying to make his way in the muggle world. He knew some stories about the Boy-Who-Lived from overhearing the boy while at Hogwarts. With that information and what Rita knew of Potter's muggleborn mother, she was able to locate the family who raised the boy and procured their memories. Maybe it wan't legal, but again the law rarely bothered her before and now it wasn't even an afterthought.

She turned to the pensive and watched the memories again, she thought how the boy really had a horrible childhood. Not that she cared, it made for great copy. The first version of the book reviewed by the publishers was significantly edited due to the level of abuse the boy suffered. Ironically, that was one of the only areas she needn't embellish. It was actually a miracle the boy survived to eleven as it was. She only agreed to the changes as the book wouldn't be published with such graphic and horrific descriptions.

Her frustrations with her exile spilled into the story. Slowly she found herself wanting to destroy the world she'd been forced to flee, and how better than to tell the muggle world about magic. Better still, tell the muggle world about magic using the so called savior of the magical world. She cackled in a slightly insane fashion and gazed at the rows of memories lining her shelves. Year seven was shaping up to be quite exciting and painful for the small group of heroes.

Growing up as she had, Rita heard stories about muggle society and all the stories of living in filth were found to be true, based on her apartment. She hardly had any money to afford anything better as her vault was locked when she went into hiding putting all her gold out of reach. Her advance off the first book was pittance and at the moment she hadn't seen a dime of the royalties.

As the success of the first book hadn't been secured, the plans to publish in other countries hadn't been discussed. It was frustrating as the advance for the second book hadn't been increased at all. She agreed to the low amount in the hope her royalty rate would increase. That hadn't happened. Her frustration only grew as she saw how well the book was being received by the muggles.

Her gaze moved over the papers on the shelf. Years two through six were complete. If her understanding of the muggle publishing world was correct, she had about a decade worth of material in front of her. Between that and the success of the first book, she knew she'd be getting out of the hovel she called home soon.

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_**A/N2: Today identifies the final trope/headcannon, after being exiled/running from the magical world Rita becomes JKR. So how do you find a bug that's been missing for years? How did she get all the details on people who she didn't know and hated her? Find out next weekend. **_


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: Almost done now, tomorrow will wrap this one up. Thanks to those who've reviewed, followed and favorited this little story. To the one review about the dramione ship sinking, last night Tom Felton's fan page on IG posted a video of him singing his song 'Hawaii' with some new words. Go watch it. I think that might be song that launches a thousand fanfic ships...my apologizes to Helen of Troy for taking her iconic line. :)**_

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That evening, Harry and the Malfoys met to go over the results of their activities. Harry wasn't surprised to hear of Skeeter's involvement after his investigation into the life and friends of the former Muggle Oversight head. Hermione was shocked to discover the man had been a longterm lover of the reporter. It explained why he refused to do anything. But, the question on how the memories were obtained wasn't answered.

The trio had settled in the Malfoy library to discuss the findings when the floo sounded to announce an incoming call. Draco went to see who called and returned with three unexpected individuals. The Weasley sons, who had been present on Sunday evening, followed Draco into the library and all were in a somber mood. Bill took the lead and the twins gave the floor without a thought.

"Hi Hermione and Harry, we have some news." Bill's expression combined sadness, anger and frustration. It was an unusual combination for the man who typically carried a bit of danger and excitement about him. The twins stood shoulder to shoulder with the same expression and a somber mood not seen for over a decade. Hermione remembered the last time she'd seen that expression and knew whatever Bill had to say was going to be upsetting to everyone.

"Since yesterday we, the twins and I, knew there were only a few people with knowledge about Harry's life before Hogwarts. As we thought on it last night, we realized most of those people are our family. We've spent the day talking to all of them and questioning them. Mum and Dad swore they'd not said anything as it was too hard for them to think about what Harry had told them. It's one of the reasons they've all but adopted you. Mum wanted to, and still wants to, make sure you get the love you didn't have as a child. Obviously the twins and I hadn't said a word and Charlie asked who'd he tell. He admitted while the Opaleye was a good listener, he hadn't thought to mention Harry's childhood as he tried to avoid the claws and fire from his charge. Percy was Percy and asked what his betrayal would cost him this time. He's still smarting from before the war."

Harry hadn't been surprised at anything Bill said, he chuckled at the image of Charlie telling the dragons stories as he ran full tilt away from being mauled. Bill's expression turned grave and he began to pace.

"You see, after talking to them there is only one person left. We knew Ron would have had some ideas on what Harry experienced before Hogwarts only from the rumors that ran around school and what he may have heard at our house. After cornering him, he admitted during his exile he met a witch in the muggle world and they started talking about the war. He took great pleasure in knowing things the witch didn't."

Bill's pacing stopped and he turned to look directly at the Minister of Magic, the Head of the DMLE and the most powerful wizard outside of the other two. "He gave her copies of all his memories."

Hermione was still. If she moved she would immediately go find the coward she once thought of as a friend and teach him just what a muggleborn could do. The Weasley brothers watched the Minister of Magic, the girl they had known since she was eleven, as her hair began to crackle with magic while her eyes turned a dark and dangerous color.

Harry's anger caused him to start vibrating. It was worse than any anger he felt before, during, or Hogwarts, including discovering just what Dumbledore knew, when he knew it and why he didn't try and stop the deaths of his parents. Fred looked to Harry and recognized his expression immediately. It was the same fierce look Harry had before dueling Voldemort. Harry wondered if he could join what ever vengeance Draco had already planned and not have Hermione turn on them both.

Draco had already decided his plan of attack. While he had never taken the mark or been believer in the death eater rhetoric, he did have a father, aunt, godfather, and various other family friends who had taught him just why the death eaters had been so feared. Lack of responsibility and conscience allowed a person to do some truly vile things.

For a full five minutes no one moved. A look of pure disgust marred the Weasley boys' faces and conveyed their displeasure at what was found. "Harry, Percy said there were a number of laws Ron broke, some of the them are common and you would know them all. But there are quite a few laws that typically fly under the radar but would apply in this situation." Bill watched as Harry's focus slowly turned to the eldest Weasley brother.

At Harry's nod Bill continued. "Perce sent them to your office in order for you to get a full warrant for Ron's arrest. Ron's still with Mum and Dad, Mum was pretty brutal on him and Dad's set the wards to not allow him to leave magically or otherwise. His reasons were excuses that didn't even make sense. I think he just wanted someone to see him as an important part of the story."

What Bill left out was how Ron blamed Harry for choosing to not be his best friend. Ron believed they were destined to be friends forever. Harry would marry Ginny and Ron would get with Hermione eventually. The couples would each have a bunch of children. They would take the magical world by storm and never be relegated to the side.

Bill smiled sadly, it was a good dream. It was just too bad the fates had decided otherwise for Ginny. Bill wiped a solitary tear from his eye and waited to hear if he or the twins were needed.

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Rita was surprised when her publisher wrote and said there was interest in the movie rights for her books. With only one book published, she'd not expected to get that call so soon. She agreed to a meeting whenever the publishers were available. Rita poured the memory she was viewing back into its vial and set it on the shelf, while the witch knew Ron's memories were more fantasy than true memory, it made for a great plot line.

Ron Weasley would be the most loyal and caring friend the reader could hope to have. He would be funny and give the group strategic insight no one else would identify. Harry would always forgive and forget the slights from his red headed friend, the boy would be the first friend Harry had. The forgiveness shown by Harry would give the impression Ron was more important than the muggleborn who tagged along. To show his never ending capacity for love, Ron would fall for the muggleborn and they would marry. His fears over never being enough would magically disappear and he would happily play second fiddle to his wife.

Of course the muggleborn was going to suffer a lot during the rest of the books. In a small way, the planned pain was similar to what the girl had actually experienced except she wouldn't be strong enough to get her own back. It would fall to her future mother-in-law. In the end, Hermione Granger would be in debt to a pureblood and never even realize she'd be seen as weak. This is how it should be.

Rita finished updating to storyline for the third year. The extra fluff and new secondary plot lines needing to be carried into year four was her current task. The question she struggled with now was whether or not to have Harry end up with Ginny Weasley. Rita had only seen the young witch a couple of times and believed her to be just as annoying as her mother.

In other bit of irony lost on the publishers, Rita's version of the chamber of secrets was completely accurate up to and including the death of Ginny Weasley. The publishers were aghast at the death and vigorously fought for that to be changed. Their lone argument circled on the fact the books were for children. If they killed a character, a young student no less, the tone of the books would be too dark. What the publishers hadn't figured out yet was just how dark the story truly was and what would happen during Harry's seventh year. Death was the main character and no one had figured it out yet.

Rita agreed to keep the red headed witch alive only so editing for the second book would begin. In a twisted way she hoped the magical world discovered these books. How devastated would the Weasley family be to read just how perfect their youngest child's life would have been. Yes, Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter would marry. Their children would be named after Harry's dead family and friends.

Pinned to the wall of the apartment was a list of people who Rita wanted dead by the end of the series. She noted Ginny's survival and selected one of the twins to replace her. They would become loved characters and killing one would destroy the other. Rita never liked them after their part in her secret being made public. It didn't matter which one died since they were interchangeable. As she looked at the list she decided it would be appropriate for something to happen to each. She chuckled as she made some notes reworking how year seven started. Harry's escape would be a bit more bloody now.

She gazed at the list again, most were the survivors from the war and hadn't really done anything to her except they didn't offer any support when she needed it. Rita knew she couldn't kill the one witch she wanted dead, so there would be many who took her place.

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One of Hermione's first acts when she took over as the Minister of Magic, was ensuring the relationship between the magical and muggle governments was stabile. The relationship had been tenuous in the run up to the fall of the Ministry, but after the fall, it was non-existent. Hermione took time to provide the newly elected Prime Minister with details on the war, the causes of it, and in the end an agreement was forged between the offices. The knowledge of the magical world was considered top secret and only known to the Prime Minister and his second. The muggles were under a specially modified unbreakable vow making it impossible to speak of magic in anyway other than how the rest of the muggle world understood it.

Hermione contacted her muggle counterpart before leaving her office Monday and Tuesday morning saw her settled in his office. She'd requested numerous documents after sending her apologizes for the size of her request. The popularity of the Harry Potter book wasn't on the radar of the muggle government until the rumors of crowds gathering at various locations and the children of the Prime Minister becoming fans of the book.

The Prime Minister knew there was a problem after hearing a couple of names when his sons told his daughter about the book over Sunday night dinner. In his surprise, he asked to see the book and was shocked his magical counterpart hadn't set up a meeting yet.

The boys were excited to be able to talk to him about it. He finished the book at the office just before he received Hermione's note and request. When he entered the office on Tuesday, and before welcoming Hermione, he informed the witch he'd only discovered the book over the weekend and finished reading it just before receiving her meeting request. His plan had been to contact her immediately after he finished the book and his admission gave the witch a bit of comfort.

"Hermione how accurate is it?" The witch began to explain what had so far been done. The vagueness of the book was in their favor and only few truths were accurate enough to be problematic. "Whatever I can do to get this handled let me know. I don't think I can get the second book stopped, at least not officially. If you need support from my staff in your attempt, let me know." Hermione was pleased, it would make what she planned to do much easier.

After getting a bit more information on the publishing company, Hermione thanked the Prime Minister and returned to her office in a slightly better mood.

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In a complete coincidence, the auror stationed outside the publishing house arrived just as Rita Skeeter walked around the corner and entered the building. A simple tracking spell was placed on the witch and a message sent to the DMLE. A few minutes after the convicted felon entered the building, a group of aurors arrived and positioned themselves waiting for her departure.

Rita sighed as she entered her publishing company for the meeting about turning the books into movies. The walk had been long, it always was. She wished she could apparate or port key, but she knew she couldn't use her magic very often. Limiting her encounters with magic dulled her sense of it, so after having spent so many years away, when the tracking spell hit her, it felt more like an annoying bug landing on her shoulder. She brushed it off and continued on her way.

When the meeting ended, the movie contract hadn't been signed yet, she needed to pretend to read it, but there was no question on her signing it. She appreciated the section giving the screenwriters license to modify her story. Maybe she could get them to add few more deaths in the later movies. As she left the building, she was trailed to the ratty apartment and a watch was established.

Hermione made a direct order, the aurors were to observe, track and know where the witch was at every moment. She told them to not apprehend. When the auror in charge looked to the head of his department, he saw a look in the eyes of Harry Potter that told him the apprehension would occur, probably relatively soon, and more likely it would be quite painful for the felon who'd avoided their search for far too long.

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	6. Chapter 6

As Hermione reviewed what the Prime Minister provided, she rubbed her head in anger. Not only was the book a best seller in the UK, it was starting to gain momentum around the world. The international articles discussed how the fans were eagerly waiting for the release of the second book the coming summer. Most of the countries listed were in the commonwealth and therefore had easy access to books published in the UK. Non-commonwealth countries were working to get publishing rights themselves or work with the British publisher and order books directly from them.

Children around the world planned to dress as Harry Potter for the upcoming Halloween festivities and many girls were finding comfort in the awkwardness that was Hermione Granger. Draco, to his credit, didn't smile, smirk or snicker when he read those articles. He knew how difficult Hermione's transition had been and these stories were tearing open those old wounds.

Draco and Harry sat around the witch each reading documents and taking notes on the important points. Harry let out a sigh. "So we can't stop the second book, there would be too many questions raised. This stack of notes are some questions and comments from the editors on plot points. Apparently there are a number of plot holes between the two books."

Harry cleared his throat with an uncomfortable cough catching the attention of his friends. "From what I can tell, the main plot about the chamber is as accurate as the description about Kings Cross and Diagon Alley was in the fist. This note is stating Ginny can't die." Harry's voice dropped as Hermione gasped.

"She is staying true to the story Harry. I was reading their notes from the first book. They talk about things with your mother's family. Things you've never told me outright, but I've suspected. The worst aspects of your life are documented in perfect honesty." Hermione closed her eyes and looked to the ceiling in worry. Draco growled before harshly standing and leaving the room. Hermione picked up his chair and read the notes he had thrown before leaving.

"Oh my. Harry keep reading, I have to find Draco." Hermione sprinted from the room and listened for the telltale sounds of her husband. She found him standing in the room where Caeli and the twins were sleeping, silently crying. Wrapping her arms around her husband, she led him from their children's room and into their own.

"I want to get her alone and do things before I allow her to be sent to Azkaban, Draco. The choices you made saved me, the real me. Skeeter hates us totally and completely. She is going to cause as much harm to the Malfoy name as she can. She is going to try and kill me. I know it. I doubt she will, the first book has me being the only reason Harry survived. I don't think that will change. But she won't have us together in the end."

Draco growled once more and held Hermione tighter. "It's like my nightmares. I'm afraid they are going to be real and you will leave me. That my family, my children, aren't real. That all we've done is just going to be a figment of my imagination. That I really am in Azkaban because no one believed I had no choice in my life." As Hermione held her husband, her anger grew hotter.

"Our life is solid, is real, in dreams you don't feel touches. Can you feel me?" Draco nodded into his wife's shoulder. "I have a plan, after reading those notes, there is no question it will work. I'm going to need you. I need you to help plot, to find the gaps, to identify the ways we could be caught, in other words I need every bit of cunning you possess Draco Malfoy. I said it before, with you by my side nothing will stop us."

Draco sighed. "Too bad you really didn't want to rule the world. We totally could have done it without all the murder or horcruxes." Hermione laughed and wiped both of their tears away.  
"Come on, let's make a story line for how these books are going to go."

/*\\\\*/ /*\\\\*/ /*\\\\*/

Rita giggled as she read the contract, it was filled with little sections giving the movie studio complete artistic license. It really was better than she expected and she wanted to sign right then. The studio believed she had a lawyer and told her they expected an answer by the end of the next week. Their comments made Rita hold back on signing. What she wanted to do was sign it in front of the studio representative. So the contract would remain unsigned for another week and a half. Rita placed the contract on the shelf with the illegally obtained memories and pulled out the notes the editors had sent about the second book.

She read over the notes again and grudgingly began to make the changes they suggested. For some parts she'd need to review the memories knowing they probably wouldn't help. Most of the plot holes were because the memories were mere fantasies heavy on the importance of Ron Weasley and light on the actual details.

While Rita was reworking major parts of the story line, the auror department opted to use the stakeout as a way to test a batch of new spells and charms. The one they were finding the most useful showed them what the witch was doing and provided the corresponding audio. The Minister called it a video when the Department of Mysteries showed her the results of their recorded test.

For this stake out, there wasn't a lot of sound since she lived alone, but sometimes she'd start babbling about her future plans. All this was documented and just further proved the witch was a dangerous risk to the entire magical world.

After a week of constant surveillance, the order the aurors had been waiting to receive arrived. With renewed focus, the current team split their duties. One auror kept watch on the target, while the others observed the building's other inhabitants. Most left in the morning while those remaining were gone after lunch. On a typical day, the only person in the building after lunch and until dinnertime was Rita Skeeter.

Hermione sat next to Harry as the auror in-charge, Louis Von Camp, began to the meeting to discuss the plan to arrest the wanted felon. Draco, who was granted permission to attend the meeting, stood behind Hermione and silently listened. While Draco wouldn't be allowed to participate in the raid, Hermione and Harry would be there. Hermione promised Draco would be able to view her memories so he could experience the entire thing. There were a few points the aurors hadn't thought were important but could allow the witch to escape. Those were quickly mitigated and the timing of the raid was set for the next afternoon.

/*\\\\*/ /*\\\\*/ /*\\\\*/

The individuals participating in the raid quietly popped into an empty apartment across the hall from the targeted one. Louis established the anti-apparition and anti-port key wards over the Skeeter's apartment and the hall just outside the door immediately upon arrival. The windows, while open at the moment, would close and magically seal as soon as the raid started. The only door to the apartment would be where the Minister of Magic and Head of the DMLE stood. An undetectable and incredibly strong silencing spell was placed over individual rooms per the Minister's request.

The aurors had been told their only role was to ensure the suspect didn't get out of the apartment using magic or other means. All understood this raid was truly under the watch of the two most famous and powerful individuals since Merlin himself.

At the determined time, Hermione and Harry stepped from under Harry's cloak and silently opened the door. Their entry kicked off the entire raid. Hermione felt the wards settle over the apartment and watched as the windows slid silently shut and locked with a quiet click. The slight glimmer along the edges told her they had sealed as well. A moment later she heard the distinctive pop of the aurors arriving and a scream from the lone woman.

Harry erected a number of new shields Hermione taught him and prepared to face someone he'd hated since he was thirteen. The sneer on his face should stop her dead in her tracks, but if not, she would be faced with a pair of wands that knew war.

Hermione heard the rushing steps of the witch and summoned the wand from the counter just as Rita went to grab it. Hermione slipped it into her pocket with a sticking charm just in case Rita knew wandless magic.

Rita was shocked when her wand shot away from her, but was gobsmacked when she saw who had summoned it. She knew she was caught and only had way to escape. Since the wand was gone her only hope was the port key she had made for just such an emergency. Shooting the pair in the doorway a malicious smile, the witch screamed 'Portus' and gripping her necklace tightly. Instead of spinning away she heard laughs she'd hoped to never encounter again.

"Really Rita, you thought we'd allow apparition or port keys. You really have such little faith in us. You know what really happened in the war. And you give us so little credit. Did you think we'd become soft since we won? Hm, was that it? That was quite naive on your part. Or was it more that you just didn't think ahead? I would wager on that one. The world, our world, may not be in the same danger it was during the war, but the risk of the greater muggle world knowing, that will never abate. So we are trained to make it never happens."

Hermione glared at the witch who was frozen for more than one reason in the dirty apartment she'd called home for years. "Louis, what did you find in the other room?" A voice Rita assumed was this Louis bloke floated back towards them.

"Pretty much everything we expected ma'am. There are tons of memories, a pensive I'm pretty sure was stolen from the Ministry just after it fell all those years ago, the second book, what we already had from the publishing house, what appears to be completed books for years three through six, and an almost complete draft of year seven. We aren't totally finished in here just yet, it will probably take us another hour if not two before we are done." Hermione's smirk turned deadly as she removed and spun the wand formerly used by Rita Skeeter between her fingers.

"You see Rita, as the Minister I have the ability to snap wands." With a subtle flick of her wrist the wand was in two pieces and the magic seeped from it. "I also have at least an hour before anyone comes in here. You can scream all you want Rita, the silencing spell is an auror special, in fact as Minister I promise you will scream. No one outside of this room will hear you, even the aurors in the next room. You see, you've been silenced and soon, oh so soon, you'll be silenced for good."

Harry's dark laugh made Rita turn her focus back to him. She was afraid of Hermione, the girl trapped Rita in a glass jar for over a year, but Harry Potter was a different level of fear. "You see Rita, when I was thirteen you lied about me. Your lies made my life difficult, but a few years later you were discovered to be an absolute hoax. A fraud. A fantasy writer whose work inspired others to think they knew the truth. The Prophet recanted after your disappearance. Not sure if you knew that. But the editors admitted EVERY SINGLE THING that was ever printed with your byline was fraudulent. The stories were removed from the archive. It's as if you never existed." The pair looked to each other and nodded before slowly stepping into the room and shutting the door.

"Your information gatherers turned on you. I know you knew that, but quite a few of them were able to prove your use of spells that are highly illegal. To bad you weren't smart enough to modify the spells to make them legal. If you had, you'd not have been convicted." Hermione continued on Harry's thought.

Both knew Rita had never considered modifying spells. Never once did she think she could tweak spells to skirt the laws. If only she had, her thoughts were again interrupted. "That isn't a problem for me you see. I had years to practice this while at school. Again, I bet you didn't think of that. Your books are what is going to get you the equivalent sentence as the kiss. You've decided to go after the wrong people. Your grudge will be your ultimate downfall."

Harry stalked toward the woman with his wand pointed toward her. "I read the notes on your submitted book, what you wrote of my childhood. You wanted to capitalize on my pain. Since you were so interested in it, I think it's important for you to experience it." A flick of his wrist send a warning. As the witch hit the ground the pair standing laughed. "That was just the beginning."

/*\\\\*/ /*\\\\*/ /*\\\\*/

An hour and half later, two of the aurors bound the suspect with bindings created to ensure an animagus could not transform and took her away, while the rest of the team took the evidence and returned to the Ministry. Hermione and Harry walked through the apartment once more to make sure nothing was left to evidence the existence a witch lived there. Hermione's final act was to set a note and keys on the counter. The landlord would find them eventually.

Draco impatiently waited for his wife in her office. At her appearance, the wizard sighed in relief and stepped toward her. Shaking her head, Hermione sent a vial on her desk filled with blonde hairs. "In a moment Draco, the place was filthy, I need to change. Harry's doing the same and should be here in 10 minutes or so." Draco, finally able to sit after seeing his wife safe, whole and uninjured, waited for the pair to fill him in before he watched the memories himself.

A freshly showered and dressed Hermione curled on her husband's lap and told him the story and giggled the entire way through it. After watching both sets of memories, Draco looked to his wife with awe. They'd all seen death, destruction and pain during the war. Sometimes it was inflicted on them, sometimes they inflicted it on others and what he'd witnessed rivaled anything they had done during those dark days.

"Damn baby, that was incredibly hot. I mean seriously, you told her it was for the greater good? I don't know how either of didn't laugh." Hermione's giggle was light and happy, it was what she sounded like before everything she'd been forced to see and do.

"Draco, we aren't taking over the world. I have enough responsibility with you and the kids. Add Harry, Phil and Wills when Claudia isn't around and I'm stretched to my limit. The world can just think magic is a fantasy. We have five books to make it right and not to mention the movies. Harry's story will be told without giving away our secret."

And all was right in the world.

/*\\\\*/ /*\\\\*/ /*\\\\*/

_**A/N: So this started as a Scorpius centric story and morphed into this. Thanks to everyone whose followed, favorited and reviewed. Stay safe. For those of you critical to ensuring the rest of our safety, thank you. For the rest of us, stay home, there's nothing more important than protecting those you love. It's hard to stay away from friends and family but it's better than dying. Sorry, off my soap box. **_

_**See you all next time.**_


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